❓ Question regarding confidence in WA's capability to undertake Collins-Class submarine maintenance, with the Minister accusing the Leader of the Opposition of undermining efforts to secure full-cycle docking for WA.
AnsweredQoN 1088Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
COLLINS-CLASS SUBMARINE
MAINTENANCE PROGRAM
1088. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Defence
Issues:
On behalf of the member for Mount
Lawley, I would first like to acknowledge representatives of the Mount Lawley
Primary School Parents and Citizens Association in the gallery today.
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's fight to secure more defence maintenance and manufacturing
jobs for Western Australians and its commitment to continue to grow our skilled
workforce. Can the minister advise the house whether he is aware of anyone who
does not have confidence in Western Australia's capability to undertake
this work and is seeking to undermine this government's efforts?
MAINTENANCE PROGRAM
1088. Mrs L.M. O'MALLEY to the Minister for Defence
Issues:
On behalf of the member for Mount
Lawley, I would first like to acknowledge representatives of the Mount Lawley
Primary School Parents and Citizens Association in the gallery today.
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's fight to secure more defence maintenance and manufacturing
jobs for Western Australians and its commitment to continue to grow our skilled
workforce. Can the minister advise the house whether he is aware of anyone who
does not have confidence in Western Australia's capability to undertake
this work and is seeking to undermine this government's efforts?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question.
Sadly, I can confirm that someone is very obviously engaged in undermining the
efforts of Western Australia to bring full-cycle docking to Western Australia.
It is sad to reflect on the fact that on Monday, the Leader of the Opposition
went on air on 6PR and, on an unrelated matter, chose to raise full-cycle docking. She suggested that somehow Western Australia
is incapable of doing the task, that our workers are unskilled and
incapable of meeting the demands of that task and that South Australia is and
therefore should retain the task. That is the implication when the member makes
such ridiculous observations in the public domain. Today she will double-down by moving this outrageous and
laughable matter of public interest suggesting that the house condemns the current government for not doing enough to get
full-cycle docking, ''which threatens Western Australia's chance of being awarded the entire program, compromising economic activity and jobs''.
That, on its own, represents the most reckless and irresponsible act by a Leader
of the Opposition that I have witnessed in my almost 13 years in Parliament. It
is extraordinary that someone who purports to represent the interests of the Western
Australian public through her role as the leader of the Western Australian
opposition would actively engage in a campaign in support of the federal
government deciding to allow South Australia to retain a task that should come
to WA, obviously in Western Australia's interest and also in the
national interest. It is not as though we have just arrived at this at this
moment in time. This is a critical point in time, and perhaps the Leader of the
Opposition might want to stop tapping on her phone for a moment and consider
this.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr P. PAPALIA : Right now, the
federal government is determining, based on advice from the Australian Defence Force, whether full-cycle docking will move to Western
Australia. That process is underway. It is a live consideration by the
federal government as we speak and the Leader of the Opposition has engaged in
an effort to undermine Western Australia's
campaign. She is the only one doing so, with the ignorant, ill-informed
observations that she has made on radio and will repeat in Parliament today
through her matter of public interest. I can tell members that this is
not something we have just arrived at. We commenced the effort to bring
full-cycle docking to Western Australia in October last year, when the Premier
launched the ''Western Australian Defence and Defence Industries
Strategic Plan''. It is a public
document. It was drafted by Major General Jeff Sengelman, former Special
Operations Commander to Australia. It was written in full consultation
and collaboration with former defence minister Christopher Pyne, who, in my
observation, was probably the second best defence minister Australia has ever
had after Kim Beazley. We made six strategies to promote the defence industry
in Western Australia, and the premier action of one of them states —
Develop and promote a comprehensive
case for Western Australia to be the principal location for all submarine
maintenance and sustainment.
That
is on page 3 of the document that I hope the Leader of the Opposition would
have read. I know she is not very good at finding documents, because she
could not find one that was given to her office on Friday, but this one is
publicly available and I will give her a copy later, if she wants it. Since
that time, we have been working with the new defence minister—we saw
her in the week after she took office—and we drew to her attention that
action. We said that we would be making the case for full-cycle docking in
accordance with that strategic plan and we commenced our task.
PricewaterhouseCoopers and ACIL Allen Consulting were commissioned to do
strategic and economic arguments for why the task should come to WA. Later in
the year, Advisian and Oropesa compiled a list of infrastructure necessary for
bringing full-cycle docking to Western Australia. We gave the Minister for
Defence a business case, committing Western Australia to all the training costs
associated with building the blue-collar workforce,
and we have undertaken to fund the apprentices who will need to be trained.
That is in our business case . If we get the task, we will fund
infrastructure identified as being necessary by the Defence Force for
full-cycle docking and we have undertaken to commit all necessary planning
changes to establish a defence precinct. All those things are underway with the
support of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia, the
Australian Industry and Defence Network of Western Australia, the Henderson
Alliance, every public university, major defence businesses and small
and medium-sized enterprise s and all the state government agencies.
The SPEAKER : Minister.
Mr P. PAPALIA : This is an
important matter, Mr Speaker. It is important that we bring to the attention of
the Leader of the Opposition that she is jeopardising the interests of Western Australia's
defence industry and the Western Australian public, and it is incredible that
she would choose to do so in a field of endeavour that she has no experience in, no skill in and no knowledge of.
She has not even bothered to apprise herself of our strategy, unlike the shadow
minister who sits right next to her, who said that he is fully supportive of
the full-cycle docking case.
Mr W.R. Marmion : We all are.
Mr P. PAPALIA : Why could he
not tell his leader to keep her mouth closed at this critical time? It is
critical that everyone in Western Australia support this effort. It is
extraordinary that the Leader of the Opposition should choose to undermine it.
I cannot understand why she would do it.
Sadly, I can confirm that someone is very obviously engaged in undermining the
efforts of Western Australia to bring full-cycle docking to Western Australia.
It is sad to reflect on the fact that on Monday, the Leader of the Opposition
went on air on 6PR and, on an unrelated matter, chose to raise full-cycle docking. She suggested that somehow Western Australia
is incapable of doing the task, that our workers are unskilled and
incapable of meeting the demands of that task and that South Australia is and
therefore should retain the task. That is the implication when the member makes
such ridiculous observations in the public domain. Today she will double-down by moving this outrageous and
laughable matter of public interest suggesting that the house condemns the current government for not doing enough to get
full-cycle docking, ''which threatens Western Australia's chance of being awarded the entire program, compromising economic activity and jobs''.
That, on its own, represents the most reckless and irresponsible act by a Leader
of the Opposition that I have witnessed in my almost 13 years in Parliament. It
is extraordinary that someone who purports to represent the interests of the Western
Australian public through her role as the leader of the Western Australian
opposition would actively engage in a campaign in support of the federal
government deciding to allow South Australia to retain a task that should come
to WA, obviously in Western Australia's interest and also in the
national interest. It is not as though we have just arrived at this at this
moment in time. This is a critical point in time, and perhaps the Leader of the
Opposition might want to stop tapping on her phone for a moment and consider
this.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Members!
Mr P. PAPALIA : Right now, the
federal government is determining, based on advice from the Australian Defence Force, whether full-cycle docking will move to Western
Australia. That process is underway. It is a live consideration by the
federal government as we speak and the Leader of the Opposition has engaged in
an effort to undermine Western Australia's
campaign. She is the only one doing so, with the ignorant, ill-informed
observations that she has made on radio and will repeat in Parliament today
through her matter of public interest. I can tell members that this is
not something we have just arrived at. We commenced the effort to bring
full-cycle docking to Western Australia in October last year, when the Premier
launched the ''Western Australian Defence and Defence Industries
Strategic Plan''. It is a public
document. It was drafted by Major General Jeff Sengelman, former Special
Operations Commander to Australia. It was written in full consultation
and collaboration with former defence minister Christopher Pyne, who, in my
observation, was probably the second best defence minister Australia has ever
had after Kim Beazley. We made six strategies to promote the defence industry
in Western Australia, and the premier action of one of them states —
Develop and promote a comprehensive
case for Western Australia to be the principal location for all submarine
maintenance and sustainment.
That
is on page 3 of the document that I hope the Leader of the Opposition would
have read. I know she is not very good at finding documents, because she
could not find one that was given to her office on Friday, but this one is
publicly available and I will give her a copy later, if she wants it. Since
that time, we have been working with the new defence minister—we saw
her in the week after she took office—and we drew to her attention that
action. We said that we would be making the case for full-cycle docking in
accordance with that strategic plan and we commenced our task.
PricewaterhouseCoopers and ACIL Allen Consulting were commissioned to do
strategic and economic arguments for why the task should come to WA. Later in
the year, Advisian and Oropesa compiled a list of infrastructure necessary for
bringing full-cycle docking to Western Australia. We gave the Minister for
Defence a business case, committing Western Australia to all the training costs
associated with building the blue-collar workforce,
and we have undertaken to fund the apprentices who will need to be trained.
That is in our business case . If we get the task, we will fund
infrastructure identified as being necessary by the Defence Force for
full-cycle docking and we have undertaken to commit all necessary planning
changes to establish a defence precinct. All those things are underway with the
support of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia, the
Australian Industry and Defence Network of Western Australia, the Henderson
Alliance, every public university, major defence businesses and small
and medium-sized enterprise s and all the state government agencies.
The SPEAKER : Minister.
Mr P. PAPALIA : This is an
important matter, Mr Speaker. It is important that we bring to the attention of
the Leader of the Opposition that she is jeopardising the interests of Western Australia's
defence industry and the Western Australian public, and it is incredible that
she would choose to do so in a field of endeavour that she has no experience in, no skill in and no knowledge of.
She has not even bothered to apprise herself of our strategy, unlike the shadow
minister who sits right next to her, who said that he is fully supportive of
the full-cycle docking case.
Mr W.R. Marmion : We all are.
Mr P. PAPALIA : Why could he
not tell his leader to keep her mouth closed at this critical time? It is
critical that everyone in Western Australia support this effort. It is
extraordinary that the Leader of the Opposition should choose to undermine it.
I cannot understand why she would do it.
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